Patch Adams' leads record-breaking holiday box office surge

LOS ANGELES -- Robin Williams' poorly reviewed movie about a doctor who cures with humor got the last laugh on critics by beating "Stepmom" and topping the Christmas holiday box office.

"Patch Adams" earned $25.3 million in ticket sales, trouncing the Christmas weekend record of $17.4 million set by "Michael" in 1996, figures showed Monday.

It was the perfect elixir for Universal, suffering a dry spell punctuated by the dismal receipts for "Babe: Pig in the City" and "Meet Joe Black" as well as the ouster of several top studio executives.

"It's happy here right now. It always isn't great, but it is today," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of feature distribution.

Three other new films also had more than $10 million each in ticket sales -- "Stepmom" with $19.1 million for second place and "The Faculty" with $11.6 million for fifth place, followed by "Mighty Joe Young" with $10.6 million.

Overall, the top 12 films grossed $132 million for the weekend -- compared with $71.3 million last week -- despite fears that business would drop because Christmas fell on a Friday, a traditionally big movie night. The total was up nearly 2 percent from last year.

The $10.1 million taken in by "A Bug's Life" placed it seventh and represented a 1 percent jump in business, even though it was taken off more than 300 screens.

The top 20 movies at North American theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.: